Ever since I was told about the Advent Conspiracy and read their tag line, "Christmas can still change the world. Give Presence," I have been captivated by that last line. Give Presence. What an awesome privilege we have to give the presence of Christ to those around us. God so loved the world that He gave us the first Christmas present, and that gift was His Presence. Jesus was the child of promise, Immanuel, God with us.
The truly amazing thing to me is that we can give that Presence of Immanuel to those around us, friends, family, coworkers, even strangers. If the Presence of Immanuel is within us, then we have the opportunity, and even the responsibility, to give Jesus to others. Just as Jesus, the baby, was born in the mess of a small-town stable, Jesus can be born in the messiness of the lives of those around us. So the big question is how? How do we Give Presence? How do we give the presence of Immanuel to others?
Here are four ways that we can Give Presence: prayer, presence, actions, and words. By praying with and for others we are bringing a living example of a life of faith into their lives. By investing ourselves in the lives of others and inviting them into our lives they will be able to see and experience the Presence of Immanuel simply by being in our presence. By being sensitive to the needs of the least of these and meeting those needs, we are acting as the hands and feet of Immanuel. Finally, by speaking the Words of Life and Truth into the lives of those around us we are injecting them with the Living Word, the Creator and Savior of the world.
Christmas has passed for 2008, but Giving Presence is something that we can and should be doing all year long. May God bless you richly with the gift of Himself as you give the Presence of Immanuel to those around you.
Blessings,
Shiloh
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Butterfly Virus
I met with a buddy of mine in Orlando last week and he said something as we were finishing that has been stuck in my mind ever since then. I figured if I blogged about it maybe it would get stuck in cyberspace and out of my mind. He said something to the effect of discipling was like an infection. I've been captured ever since.
What an amazing concept, discipling (leading others to follow Jesus) is like an infection. I think he said something about a staph infection, but I'm going in a slightly different direction. While I was in my shower one morning this week (which is one of my favorite places to talk with God) this idea was still nagging at me and I decided to call it the Butterfly Virus.
Think about it. Somewhere in your past you came in contact with someone who had been transformed by the power of God and it so infected you that your life has been changed and will never again be the same. We are new creatures emerging from our old, dead cocoons after being infected by this virus. And we are highly contagious. This transformation from the old to the new, like a caterpillar to a butterfly, is so captivating and unbelievable that anyone who gets close enough to someone going through it will catch this virus themselves.
So if this virus is so contagious, why don't we see thousands upon thousands of people transforming before our eyes as they begin to follow Jesus? I think it is because we get stuck in the cocoon. For whatever reason, we don't fully emerge as new creatures. We get stuck somewhere between the old and the new (and that's a whole 'nother blog). It is only when we have the Life of Jesus within us and a lifestyle of following Jesus that we emerge from our cocoons and infect others with this Butterfly Virus. But if that happens...
If that happens, we could have an epidemic on our hands. People all around being transformed by the Life of Jesus and infecting others with the same virus that infected them. Awesome! Finally, there is a virus out there that we don't have to be afraid of catching or passing on! So go ahead, spread the virus.
Blessings,
Shiloh
What an amazing concept, discipling (leading others to follow Jesus) is like an infection. I think he said something about a staph infection, but I'm going in a slightly different direction. While I was in my shower one morning this week (which is one of my favorite places to talk with God) this idea was still nagging at me and I decided to call it the Butterfly Virus.
Think about it. Somewhere in your past you came in contact with someone who had been transformed by the power of God and it so infected you that your life has been changed and will never again be the same. We are new creatures emerging from our old, dead cocoons after being infected by this virus. And we are highly contagious. This transformation from the old to the new, like a caterpillar to a butterfly, is so captivating and unbelievable that anyone who gets close enough to someone going through it will catch this virus themselves.
So if this virus is so contagious, why don't we see thousands upon thousands of people transforming before our eyes as they begin to follow Jesus? I think it is because we get stuck in the cocoon. For whatever reason, we don't fully emerge as new creatures. We get stuck somewhere between the old and the new (and that's a whole 'nother blog). It is only when we have the Life of Jesus within us and a lifestyle of following Jesus that we emerge from our cocoons and infect others with this Butterfly Virus. But if that happens...
If that happens, we could have an epidemic on our hands. People all around being transformed by the Life of Jesus and infecting others with the same virus that infected them. Awesome! Finally, there is a virus out there that we don't have to be afraid of catching or passing on! So go ahead, spread the virus.
Blessings,
Shiloh
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Love God. Love Others. Live Sent.
Have you ever heard the saying that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole? I've been thinking about this a lot lately and in the context of the Church I think this is absolutely true. Each of us as individuals have our talents, abilities, and giftings, but it is only when each of us contributes to the whole that something magical happens and the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. I think that is one of the most amazing things about the Church.
You can see this idea come to life in another way. Look at wikipedia. At first glance it is a pretty normal encyclopedia website, but with one huge difference. Anyone can add input to the discussion. If you are an "expert" on a subject, or even if you just have information that no one else has posted yet, you can add your voice and information to the collective whole. No one person knows all of the information posted on wikipedia, but anyone has access to all of the information posted there.
Our unique experiences, giftings, and expertise are blended together to form something incredible. That is a picture of the Church. Unfortunately sometimes our local expressions of the church don't look anything like that. Many of our local churches look very homogoneous (vanilla in simpler terms). I'm not even talking about race here, although that could be another discussion. What I'm talking about is the idea of sameness. I think it is usually very subtle, but most of the local churches that I know want all of their members to be the same: in their beliefs, in their approach to worship, in their attendance and service, even in their dress. I'm all for unity within the church, but sameness doesn't equal unity.
We see an incredible picture of unity in Revelation when we read that people from every nation, tribe, and tongue will gather together to worship the Lamb. Do you think that all of those people worship the same way, or agree on every point of doctrine, or dress the same way right now? No chance! They will be united in their love for and worship of the King, not in the way they think, act, look, speak, or dress.
All that to say that we need to review what is really important and essential to the DNA of Christ's Church. His Church will have His DNA. So what is His DNA? I think it can be summarized by three commands that Jesus gave to us. He told us the greatest commandment was to love God with everything within us, and the second commandment was to love others that way as well (see Matthew 22:36-40). Just before He left the earth He gave another command with all of His authority, to go and make disciples (see Matthew 28:18-20). He sent us, just as His Father sent Him. Love God. Love Others. Live Sent. That is Christ's DNA. If we are His followers, it should be our DNA as well.
Everything we do in a local church should reflect that DNA. Our budgets, our gatherings, our programs, our calendars, our ________________. Everything. Will that lead to sameness? I doubt it, but it will lead to unity. Think about your home church. Is your church showing the DNA of Christ's Church? Does your budget and calendar and bulletin reflect Christ's DNA? What about your own life? Does your schedule and checkbook reflect Christ's DNA? If we are honest with ourselves, we have a lot of work to do. So let's get started. Begin today. Love God. Love Others. Live Sent. Pass it on. Spread the virus of Christ's DNA. You'll be glad you did.
Blessings,
Shiloh
You can see this idea come to life in another way. Look at wikipedia. At first glance it is a pretty normal encyclopedia website, but with one huge difference. Anyone can add input to the discussion. If you are an "expert" on a subject, or even if you just have information that no one else has posted yet, you can add your voice and information to the collective whole. No one person knows all of the information posted on wikipedia, but anyone has access to all of the information posted there.
Our unique experiences, giftings, and expertise are blended together to form something incredible. That is a picture of the Church. Unfortunately sometimes our local expressions of the church don't look anything like that. Many of our local churches look very homogoneous (vanilla in simpler terms). I'm not even talking about race here, although that could be another discussion. What I'm talking about is the idea of sameness. I think it is usually very subtle, but most of the local churches that I know want all of their members to be the same: in their beliefs, in their approach to worship, in their attendance and service, even in their dress. I'm all for unity within the church, but sameness doesn't equal unity.
We see an incredible picture of unity in Revelation when we read that people from every nation, tribe, and tongue will gather together to worship the Lamb. Do you think that all of those people worship the same way, or agree on every point of doctrine, or dress the same way right now? No chance! They will be united in their love for and worship of the King, not in the way they think, act, look, speak, or dress.
All that to say that we need to review what is really important and essential to the DNA of Christ's Church. His Church will have His DNA. So what is His DNA? I think it can be summarized by three commands that Jesus gave to us. He told us the greatest commandment was to love God with everything within us, and the second commandment was to love others that way as well (see Matthew 22:36-40). Just before He left the earth He gave another command with all of His authority, to go and make disciples (see Matthew 28:18-20). He sent us, just as His Father sent Him. Love God. Love Others. Live Sent. That is Christ's DNA. If we are His followers, it should be our DNA as well.
Everything we do in a local church should reflect that DNA. Our budgets, our gatherings, our programs, our calendars, our ________________. Everything. Will that lead to sameness? I doubt it, but it will lead to unity. Think about your home church. Is your church showing the DNA of Christ's Church? Does your budget and calendar and bulletin reflect Christ's DNA? What about your own life? Does your schedule and checkbook reflect Christ's DNA? If we are honest with ourselves, we have a lot of work to do. So let's get started. Begin today. Love God. Love Others. Live Sent. Pass it on. Spread the virus of Christ's DNA. You'll be glad you did.
Blessings,
Shiloh
Monday, December 1, 2008
Advent-ure
Advent may not be something new to you, but for a bunch of different reasons, it is new to me. I wasn't raised in church and then as an adult the churches that I attended didn't celebrate Advent. I heard the word here and there, but for the most part I really didn't know much about it until just recently. Now that I know more I have to say I think Advent is really cool.
I don't want to spoil the surprise for you if you aren't familiar with it, but I want to share with you a couple of the Advent adventures that I'm having this year. First of all my wife and I decided to participate in Advent by inviting our neighbors to our house for weekly celebrations. We kicked things off last night and will continue on Sunday evenings until Christmas. Some of my adult neighbors participated in Advent as children so they are more familiar with it than I am. We lit the first candle and read some Scripture and prayed together and talked about the meaning of Advent and all of the symbolism invovled. Along with the adults we had eight kids (ages 10 and under) so we had some great discussion of what everything means and why we do this and why we do that. One little guy doesn't really know the difference between Jesus Christ and Santa Claus so we had a good time of sorting through the mess of what Christmas has become. My prayer is that each of us in my neighborhood would really know the difference by the time Christmas comes this year.
Secondly, a friend of mine in Miami introduced me to a concept called the Advent Conspiracy. Have you ever seen a video that makes you want to stand up and clap, or to shout out loud? That's what I felt like when I saw the video that promotes what Advent Conspiracy is all about. If you have a few minutes of down time over these next few days, please visit www.AdventConspiracy.org and check out this idea. Watch the video, it is awesome! If nothing else read this slogan and really pray about what it means to you.
Christmas can [still] change the world. This year, Give Presence.
May you be richly blessed by the Presence of the King as you give your presence to others.
Blessings,
Shiloh
I don't want to spoil the surprise for you if you aren't familiar with it, but I want to share with you a couple of the Advent adventures that I'm having this year. First of all my wife and I decided to participate in Advent by inviting our neighbors to our house for weekly celebrations. We kicked things off last night and will continue on Sunday evenings until Christmas. Some of my adult neighbors participated in Advent as children so they are more familiar with it than I am. We lit the first candle and read some Scripture and prayed together and talked about the meaning of Advent and all of the symbolism invovled. Along with the adults we had eight kids (ages 10 and under) so we had some great discussion of what everything means and why we do this and why we do that. One little guy doesn't really know the difference between Jesus Christ and Santa Claus so we had a good time of sorting through the mess of what Christmas has become. My prayer is that each of us in my neighborhood would really know the difference by the time Christmas comes this year.
Secondly, a friend of mine in Miami introduced me to a concept called the Advent Conspiracy. Have you ever seen a video that makes you want to stand up and clap, or to shout out loud? That's what I felt like when I saw the video that promotes what Advent Conspiracy is all about. If you have a few minutes of down time over these next few days, please visit www.AdventConspiracy.org and check out this idea. Watch the video, it is awesome! If nothing else read this slogan and really pray about what it means to you.
Christmas can [still] change the world. This year, Give Presence.
May you be richly blessed by the Presence of the King as you give your presence to others.
Blessings,
Shiloh
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